xMatters on demand for message recipients
This manual provides information about xMatters. Every effort has been made to make it as complete and accurate as possible; however, the information it contains is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of xMatters, inc. No part of this document may be reproduced by any means without the prior written consent of xMatters, inc. Friday, June 26, 2015 Copyright © 1994-2015. All rights reserved. xMatters™, xMatters lite, xMatters workgroup, xMatters enterprise, xMatters on demand, xMatters service provider, xMatters mobile access, Communication Plan, AlarmPoint Systems™, AlarmPoint®, AlarmPoint® Java Client, AlarmPoint® Mobile Gateway, AlarmPoint® Integration Agent, AlarmPoint® Express, AlarmPoint® Standard, AlarmPoint® Professional, AlarmPoint® Enterprise, AlarmPoint® Service Provider, and AlarmPoint® Notification Server are trademarks of xMatters, inc. All other products and brand names are trademarks of their respective companies. Contacting xMatters, inc.: You can visit the xMatters web site at: http://www.xmatters.com Corporate Headquarters 12647 Alcosta Blvd, Suite 425 San Ramon, CA 94583 Telephone: 925.226.0300 Facsimile: 925-226-0310 Client Assistance: International: +1 925.226.0300 and press 2 US/CAN Toll Free: +1 877.XMATTRS (962.8877) EMEA: +44 (0) 20 3427 6333 Australia/APJ Support: +61-2-8038-5048 opt 2 Other Resources: Join the xMatters Community: http://support.xmatters.com Table of Contents Welcome to xMatters On-Demand About this guide Change your passwords Force a password to expire Manage your devices Add a device Set device timeframes Modify device details Change device order Test and validate your devices Respond to alerts How to prepare to receive notifications Receive and respond to phone alerts Receive and respond to text and SMS alerts Receive and respond to email alerts Call in to retrieve alerts How to access other xMatters resources 1 2 3 6 7 8 12 16 17 17 19 19 20 20 21 24 27 |i ii | Welcome to xMatters On-Demand xMatters connects people with what they need to know, at the exact moment they need to know it - so they can act quickly. It's a simple concept that packs huge benefits. It can save the sanity of an IT team, or save the lives of people caught in a disaster. It can breathe new life into a product, or capture a customer's attention at just the right instant. Our technology works with your existing products and services to deliver what matters most on time, every time. Find out how xMatters can be used in your company, and - even better - why we're the best at what we do. Communications platform A flexible platform that lets you create the apps you need. xMatters communication plan technology is a highly flexible and accurate enterprise communications platform that lets you design all of the communications applications you need for your business. n Out-of-the-box enterprise application integration with 40+ applications n Additional enterprise application support through our Community n Multiple communication device and protocol support n Full mobile support n Full-set of developer and UI design tools IT alerting Alert and escalate IT incidents automatically. xMatters automates the important task of notifying, escalating, and driving collaboration on an IT incident, reducing response time by up to 80% and leading to faster incident resolution and less downtime. In addition, xMatters provides full visibility into the process to drive accountability and help you optimize the process. Welcome to xMatters On-Demand | 1 xMatters on demand for message recipients Mass notification Personalize mass messages. With xMatters, your mass notifications evolve into mass personalization. Deliver unique experiences, choices, and capabilities to many individuals on a broad scale based on any number of factors, such as roles, responsibilities, interests, schedules, or locations. Employee notifications Different tasks. Different employees. One platform. xMatters offers a number of solutions to help you communicate more effectively with employees on a broad scale: n Unique communication plans – You can build different communication plans for different roles, functions, and scenarios (e.g. responding to a fire vs. responding to a product recall) n Instant collaboration – Our role-based conferencing functionality can get a conference call going with all the key players in under 60 seconds n Scheduling and escalation – Rather than combing through out-of-the-office reminders, you can set up on-call schedules with built-in escalations for months in advance for any functions that require scheduling (e.g. IT, nursing, security) Customer notification Keep customers informed. xMatters provides you with a number of ways to improve your customer service by proactively sending relevant messages to your customers when they want to hear them and how they want to hear them (phone, email, SMS, IM, fax). n Product updates n Special offers n Service interruption notices n Bill and payment reminders n Fraudulent activity warnings n Location-based services About xMatters xMatters enables any business process or application to trigger two-way communications (text, voice, email, SMS, push technology, etc.) throughout the extended enterprise. The company’s cloud-based solution allows for enterprise-grade scaling and delivery during time-sensitive events. More than 1,000 leading global firms use xMatters to ensure business operations run smoothly and effectively during incidents such as IT failures, product recalls, natural disasters, dynamic staffing, service outages, medical emergencies and supply-chain disruption. Founded in 2000 as AlarmPoint Systems, xMatters is headquartered in San Ramon, CA with European operations based in London. More information is available at www.xmatters.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. About this guide This guide is intended for users whose main interaction with xMatters On-Demand is to receive messages. In particular, you will learn how to set up and validate your Devices and how to respond to alerts from xMatters. This guide takes a real-world approach, providing concrete examples throughout, with suggestions about how to deal with common issues. Each section builds on the information in the previous section so that readers are free to read only the sections that apply to the way they use xMatters On-Demand. About this guide | 2 Note: This guide is meant to complement rather than replace existing xMatters online help. You are encouraged to take advantage of online help as you explore xMod. You can also access video tutorials from the Tutorials and Videos link on the xMatters Home page. Change your passwords Whether you have security regulations that require you to change your passwords on a regular basis, or you just want to change your login details to something that is easier for you to remember, you can change your phone and web passwords from your xMatters home page. Before changing your web password, be sure to review the rules for creating a password that appear on the Change My Web Login page. These rules are set by your administrator and can be simple or relatively complex where higher security is required. The following section discusses these rules in detail. Note: A user supervisor can disable the current password for any user they supervise and assign them a temporary password. For details, see "Force a password to expire" on page 6. Check your password rules xMatters administrators can set guidelines for how complex or unique passwords must be, and how often Users must change their password. The password rules that apply to your Company are displayed below the web login details on the Change My Web Login page. Depending on your organization’s password policy settings, your account may be 'locked out' if you enter an incorrect password more than a specific number of times determined by your xMatters administrator. When you are locked out, a message appears on the xMatters sign-in page; you will not be able to try again until a certain amount of time has passed, or an xMatters administrator has unlocked your account. If your password has expired, you can still log in to xMatters using your old password, but you will be prompted to create a new password before you can access your information or use any other features. If you forget your password, your xMatters Administrator can force your password to expire, which will reset it and allow you to create a new one. Change your web login password The following table identifies the password rules that may be set for your Company: Web Login Password Rules Rule Description Minimum Length Identifies the minimum numbers of characters required for your password to be valid. Unique History Identifies how many unique new passwords you must create before you can reuse a password. Change Required Every Identifies how often you must create a new password. Change Permitted Every Identifies how often you are allowed to create a new password; i.e., you must use each password for at least as many days as indicated. Change Required In Identifies how many days remain before you will be required to create a new password. About this guide | 3 xMatters on demand for message recipients Rule Description Password Complexity Identifies how complex each password must be. There are three possible settings for this rule: n n n None: There are no restrictions on password strength. Non-Alpha: Passwords must include at least one non-letter character, such as numbers (0 through 9) or special characters (e.g., !, $, #, %, @). Strong: Passwords must: l Not include all or part of the User’s account name. l l Be at least 6 characters long. Note that for multi-Company deployments (including xMatters On-Demand) the minimum is 8 characters. Include characters from at least three of the following four categories: upper-case letters (A through Z); lower-case letters (a through z); base 10 digits (0 through 9), non-alphanumeric characters (e.g., !, $, #, %, @). To change your web password: 1. Sign in to xMatters. 2. Click your user name located in the top-right corner of the page, and then click Change Web Login. Changing web login details 3. On the Change My Web Login page, enter the following information into the form: About this guide | 4 Change My Web Login details Field Description Authentication When available, this setting is used to change the type of Authentication method used when logging into xMatters. If only one type of Authentication method is available, this option is not displayed. Unless otherwise instructed by your xMatters Administrator, ensure that Web Login is selected. Web Login ID Type the User ID you want to use when logging into xMatters. This User ID must be unique within your organization. Note that depending on your permissions and the configuration determined by your xMatters Administrator, you may not be able to edit the contents of this field. Old Password To confirm your User ID, type your existing password. Note that the Old Password field appears only if you are changing your own password (Administrators will not see this field). New Password Type the new password you want to use. Your password may need to contain a specific combination of letters and characters; see the section “Password Rules” above for an explanation of these requirements. Verify New Password Type your new password again. This helps to eliminate any mistakes in the password. 4. If you are a User Supervisor who is forcing the User's password to expire, you must specify a temporary password for the User in the New Password and Confirm Password fields. For more information, see "Force a password to expire", below. 5. To reset the contents of the fields and discard any changes, click Reset. 6. Click Save to apply your changes and return to your home page. Note: If you are an Administrator viewing the password settings for a locked-out User, click Unlock to reset the Lockout Threshold count to zero and unlock the User’s account. Change your phone password You can change the password that you key in when you phone into xMatters to retrieve your alerts or perform other tasks. To change your phone password: 1. Sign in to xMatters. 2. Click your user name, the company name, or the personal settings icon located in the top-right corner of the page, and then click Change Web Login. About this guide | 5 xMatters on demand for message recipients Changing phone login details 3. On the Change My Phone Login page, enter the following information into the form: Change My Phone Login details Field Description Phone Login Mandatory alphanumeric code of up to 25 letters that uniquely identifies you. Before changing this setting, check with your xMatters Administrator to determine whether your organization has a numbering policy in place. New Password Password you want to use for your phone login. It is usually easier to use numeric values because some companies do not configure their telephone systems to accept alpha characters. Ask your xMatters Administrator for the correct format for your organization. Verify New Password Type your new password again (this helps to eliminate any mistakes in the password). 4. To reset the contents of the fields and discard any changes, click Reset. 5. Click Save to apply your changes and return to your home page. Force a password to expire In some cases, supervisors may need to force a user’s password to expire. For example, manual password expiry may be necessary if a user has forgotten their password or if they learn that someone else knows their current password. A user supervisor can disable the current password for any user they supervise and assign them a temporary password. When the user logs in to xMatters with the temporary password, they are directed to immediately create a new password. To manually force a user's password to expire: 1. In the xMatters web user interface, navigate to the My Details page for the user whose password you want to reset. 2. On the user’s detail page, click Change Web Login on the Common Tasks menu. 3. On the Change Web Login page, specify a temporary password for the user in the New Password and Confirm Password fields. 4. Click Force Password Expiry. 5. Inform the user of the temporary password you have set for them. About this guide | 6 The next time the user logs in to the xMatters web user interface, they will need to use the temporary password. Once they have logged in, xMatters will guide them through the process of specifying a new password. Manage your devices The xMatters web user interface makes it easy to create, modify, and organize the devices that xMatters uses to contact you. To view your devices, click your user name in the top-right corner of the page, and then click My Devices in the Contact Devices menu. The following figure shows the device list for Mary McBride: The following table describes each of the columns in the devices table: Column Description Order Indicates the order in which you want xMatters to attempt to contact your devices when sending notifications. For more information, see "Change device order" on page 17. Name Identifies the descriptive name of each device. You can click the name of a device to view and edit its details. Type Identifies the device type, such as “Email”, “Voice”, "Text Phone", etc. Details Displays different identifying information for each device, depending on its type. For example, for an email device, this column lists the email address; for a phone device, it lists the phone number. Valid Indicates whether the device has been successfully tested to ensure that xMatters is able to contact you on it. For more information, see "Test and validate your devices" on page 17. Status Indicates whether the device is active and able to receive notifications. Manage your devices | 7 xMatters on demand for message recipients Column Description Default Indicates whether the device is the default method for xMatters to contact you when none of your device’s timeframes match a coverage within a group to which you belong. Timeframe Displays the main timeframe for each device, indicating when the device is available to receive notifications. For more information about timeframes, see "Set device timeframes" on page 12. Delay Indicates the length of time (in minutes) that xMatters will wait after sending a notification to this device before trying the next device in your list. Each entry in the Name column and the Timeframe column is also a hyperlink. You can click the name of any device in the list to view more details about that device, or click the link in the Timeframes column to view more details about when the device is set to receive notifications. For more about timeframes and customizing your device schedules, see "Set device timeframes" on page 12. Add a device You can set up your own devices using the xMatters web user interface, and return later to make changes, or to add more devices. The following section describes how to add each of the different device types in xMatters. Note that xMatters limits how many devices you can add of each type. For more information, consult your xMatters Administrator. To add a device: 1. Click your user name in the top-right corner of the page, and then click My Devices. 2. On the My Devices page, click the Add New link. 3. Select the type of device you want to add from the drop-down list, and then click Continue. l xMatters displays the Device Details page for the selected device type. 4. On the Device Details page, enter the information for your device into the form. 5. When you are satisfied with the information you have provided, click Save to add the device. When you add a new device, it is automatically assigned a 24x7 timeframe. This means that the device is ready to receive notifications 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week. You can edit your device timeframes to specify when you want each of your devices to be able to receive xMatters notifications. For more information, see "Set device timeframes" on page 12. Smart phones To add a smart phone device (also known as a push device) such as an iPhone, iPad, Android phone or Blackberry device, you must first download the xMatters mobile app from the corresponding app store and install it on your device. You can then assign the device a name from a list within the app. xMatters automatically adds this device to your device list and configures it so that it is always active and receives notifications immediately. You can then log in to the web user interface to view and modify your device settings, such as setting your device to be active during certain timeframes or to be notified after your other devices. For more information, see "Modify device details" on page 16. Set your device details Consult the tables below for a description of the fields for each type of device. Manage your devices | 8 Email Device Details Field Description Device Name Select the name that best describes the Email Device you are adding. The choices available are determined by your xMatters Administrator. Active Select this check box if you want this Device to be able to receive notifications. If this check box is not selected, xMatters will not attempt to contact you on this Device. Default Device Select this check box if you want this Device to be the default method for receiving xMatters notifications when none of your Devices’ Timeframes match a Coverage within a Group to which you belong. Email Address Type the email address you want to use for this Device. Note that your administrator may have specified the domain names (i.e., the part of the email address following the @ symbol) allowed for the Device Name. For example, if you selected "Work Email" as the Device Name for this Device, then your email address may need to contain your corporate domain name. Click the blue help icon next to the field to view a list of approved domains. Provider This setting identifies the email service provider for this Device. Your xMatters Administrator specifies the available options. Delay Type the length of time (in minutes) that xMatters should wait after sending a notification to this Device before trying the next Device in your list. Priority Threshold Select the priority level of alerts you want to receive on this Device. For example, to avoid having xMatters use this Device for low-priority events, select “Use for Medium and High Events”. This feature must be configured by your xMatters Administrator when integrating xMatters with a management system. Custom Timeframe Select this check box to add a custom Device Timeframe for this Device. For instructions on how to create Timeframes, see "Set device timeframes" on page 12. Text Pager Device Details Field Description Device Name Select the name that best describes the Text Pager Device you are adding (for example, “Work Pager”). The choices available are determined by your xMatters Administrator. Active Select this check box if you want this Device to be able to receive notifications. If this check box is not selected, xMatters will not attempt to contact you on this Device. Default Device Select this check box if you want this Device to be the default method for receiving notifications when none of your Devices’ Timeframes match a Coverage within a Group to which you belong. PIN Type the Personal Identification Number for the pager. Manage your devices | 9 xMatters on demand for message recipients Field Description Provider This setting identifies the paging service provider for this Device. Your xMatters Administrator specifies the available options. Two-Way Device Select this check box if your Device is capable of sending a return message in response to a notification. Delay Type the length of time (in minutes) that xMatters should wait after sending a notification to this Device before trying the next Device in your list. Priority Threshold Select the priority level of alerts you want to receive on this Device. For example, to avoid having xMatters use this Device for low-priority events, select “Use for Medium and High Events”. This feature must be configured by your Administrator when integrating xMatters with a management system. Custom Timeframe Select this check box to add a custom Device Timeframe for this Device. For instructions on how to create Timeframes, see "Set device timeframes" on page 12. Text Phone Device Details Field Description Device Name Select the name that best describes the Device you are adding (for example, “SMS Phone”). The choices available are determined by your xMatters Administrator. Active Select this check box if you want this Device to be able to receive notifications. If this check box is not selected, xMatters will not attempt to contact you on this Device. Default Device Select this check box if you want this Device to be the default method for receiving xMatters notifications when none of your Devices’ Timeframes match a Coverage within a Group to which you belong. Country Select the country in which the text phone Device is based; the choices available are determined by your xMatters Administrator. This setting helps ensure that responses are delivered properly to xMatters when sent through an SMS provider, and is important even when the provider and Device are based in the same country. You do not need to change this setting when traveling with the Device. It is only used to identify the Device's "home" country. Note: For more about the country code setting for text phones, see "Text Phone Configuration Changes", below. Number Type the area code and phone number for the device, using international dialing formats. Note: Do not include a leading zero, spaces, or special characters such as brackets or plus symbols (+). Provider Manage your devices | 10 This setting identifies the (text) phone service provider for this Device. Your xMatters Administrator specifies the available options. Field Description Delay Type the length of time (in minutes) that xMatters should wait after sending a notification to this Device before trying the next Device in your list. Priority Threshold Select the priority level of alerts you want to receive on this Device. For example, to avoid having xMatters use this Device for low-priority events, select “Use for Medium and High Events”. This feature must be configured by your xMatters Administrator when integrating xMatters with a management system. Custom Timeframe Select this check box to add a custom Device Timeframe for this Device. For instructions on how to create Timeframes, see "Set device timeframes" on page 12. Text Phone Charges You may incur charges when receiving or responding to xMatters notifications on a text phone Device. The Text Phone Device Details page contains a summary of the information you need to know before creating a text phone Device, which includes the numbers to which you can send STOP or HELP codes to opt-out or get more information. These numbers update dynamically based on your Provider and Country settings. Whenever you add, modify, or activate a text phone Device, xMatters sends two text messages to the Device: a confirmation message and a sample alert. The text of these messages is set by your xMatters Administrator, but usually include a reference to how the number of alerts can vary with usage, an indication that message and data rates may apply, and the numbers to which you can send STOP or HELP codes. If you decide to opt out of the service by sending a STOP code in response to the confirmation message or sample alert, xMatters deactivates the text phone Device within xMatters (i.e., by clearing the Active check box) and sends a notification to your User and Group Supervisors. Text Phone Configuration Changes In xMatters, text phones have two separate modes of operation that allow them to be configured in different ways. This was introduced to meet new SMS requirements like simple replies and MMA compliance. Prior to xMatters version 5.0 and version 4.1 patch 006, in what is known as "legacy mode", text phones could be configured by specifying the phone number as a free-form text field. This allowed each phone to be configured with the necessary requirements for their provider; for example, a User could include the country code or other characters in the phone number, such as +440735559995 or 212-555-2125. The new text phone Device configuration requires the country code to be specified separately, and enforces stricter validation on the number. This is necessary for xMatters to provide support for short code compliance, simple SMS responses, and other features and MMA requirements. Note that this change impacts web services, the web user interface, and data synchronization. Updating an existing system from legacy mode requires that each text phone Device be updated to have the correct country code and its phone number formatted to meet the new validation requirements. For assistance with this upgrade, contact xMatters Professional Services. Voice (Phone) Device Details Field Description Device Name Select the name that best describes the Device you are adding (for example, “Mobile Phone”). The choices available are determined by your xMatters Administrator. Manage your devices | 11 xMatters on demand for message recipients Field Description Active Select this check box if you want this Device to be able to receive notifications. If this check box is not selected, xMatters will not attempt to contact you on this Device. Default Device Select this check box if you want this Device to be the default method for receiving xMatters notifications when none of your Devices’ Timeframes match a Coverage within a Group to which you belong. Country Code Override If the phone you want to use is from another country, select the country in which the service for this phone is based. Area Code Type the area code for the Voice Device you are adding. Phone Number Type the phone number for the Voice Device you are adding. Extension Type the extension for the Voice Device you are adding. Phone extension support is available when xMatters uses certain phone providers to send voice notifications. To find out if your system supports phone extensions, contact your Client Success Manager. Provider This setting identifies the (voice) phone service provider for this Device. Your xMatters Administrator specifies the available options. Delay Type the length of time (in minutes) that xMatters should wait after sending a notification to this Device before trying the next Device in your list. Priority Threshold Select the priority level of alerts you want to receive on this Device. For example, to avoid having xMatters use this Device for low-priority events, select “Use for Medium and High Events”. This feature must be configured by your xMatters Administrator when integrating xMatters with a management system. Custom Timeframe Select this check box to add a custom Device Timeframe for this Device. For instructions on how to create Timeframes, see "Set device timeframes" on page 12. Note: Some Voice (Phone) Devices can be configured so that callers hear an alternative ring (e.g., music, a customized message, or other recording) rather than the standard ring. However, when xMatters calls a phone that is configured with a custom ring, an error may occur, or xMatters may assume that it has reached voicemail. Set device timeframes Each device has a timeframe that tells xMatters when that device is available to receive notifications. By default, each device is available 7x24 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), but you can specify different timeframes for each device to ensure that you are always contacted on the right device whenever xMatters sends a notification. A timeframe schedule might include a timeframe for your work phone specifying that it can be called on weekdays excluding holidays; two or more timeframes for your home phone specifying that xMatters can call it evenings, weekends, and on holidays; and a 7x24 timeframe for your work email address. For example, the figure below shows the timeframe schedule for Mary McBride’s home phone: Manage your devices | 12 An example timeframe schedule Mary has only one timeframe assigned to her home phone: evenings from 18:00 to 22:00, not including holidays. If she wanted to be able to be notified on her home phone on weekends, she could add another timeframe. Note that the extension field is not available on xMatters On-Demand. Note: For more detailed information, or to see any other timeframes assigned to a particular device, click the link in the Name column to review the device details. Add a timeframe Depending on your permissions, you can add timeframes to your devices. For example, assume that Mary wants to add an additional timeframe to her home phone device to make sure that xMatters can reach her on the weekends. The following steps describe how she could create that timeframe. To add a timeframe: 1. Sign in to xMatters. 2. Click your user name located in the top-right corner of the page, and then click My Devices. 3. On they My Devices page, click the name of the device to which you want to add a timeframe. 4. On the Device Details page, in the Timeframes for Device section, click the Add New link. l xMatters displays a blank Timeframe Details page. Manage your devices | 13 xMatters on demand for message recipients Creating a new device timeframe 5. Change the settings to specify a new timeframe. l Mary gives the timeframe a descriptive name, and specifies when she wants her home phone to be available to receive xMatters notifications on the weekend: Specifying device timeframe settings Manage your devices | 14 6. Click Save. l xMatters returns to the Device Details page, and displays the new timeframe in the Timeframes for Device table. Device with two timeframes Note: The order in which timeframes are listed has no effect on how xMatters determines the availability of your devices. If one of the timeframes indicates that the device is available, then xMatters will attempt to contact you on it. Edit or delete timeframes You can edit your timeframes at any time to reflect a new work schedule or other change in availability. For example, if Mary McBride changed her office hours from an 8:00am to 5:00pm schedule to a 9:00am to 6:00pm schedule, she would adjust her work phone timeframe to reflect her new hours. To edit an existing timeframe: 1. Browse to the Device Details page of the device you are editing. 2. In the Timeframes for Device page, click the name of the device you want to edit. 3. Modify the timeframe settings as desired. 4. Click Save to apply the changes and return to the Device Details page. Manage your devices | 15 xMatters on demand for message recipients To remove a timeframe: 1. Browse to the Device Details page of the device you are editing. 2. In the Timeframes for Device page, select the check box next to the timeframe you want to delete. 3. Click Remove Selected. Modify device details If your devices are already configured, either by you or your xMatters Administrator, you can change details such as phone numbers, descriptions, and email addresses. For example, if you change your home phone number, you can change your home phone device details to the new number. To modify a Device: 1. Sign in to xMatters. 2. Click your user name located in the top-right corner of the page, and then click My Devices. 3. Click the name of the Device that you want to modify. l xMatters displays the details for that device. Device Details for Mary McBride’s home phone 4. On the Device Details page, edit the settings you want to change. l Note that you cannot change the name of an existing device. 5. When you are satisfied with your choices, click Save to apply your changes and return to the My Devices page. l To discard your changes and reset the fields to their original values, click Reset. Manage your devices | 16 Change device order Changing the order of your devices affects how xMatters notifies you. When attempting to contact you, xMatters checks the timeframes of the first device in your list to see if it is available to receive notifications. If it not, xMatters then checks the timeframe of the next device, and so on. To change the order of your devices: 1. Sign in to xMatters. 2. Click your user name located in the top-right corner of the page, and then click My Devices. 3. Click Reorder. l xMatters displays the Order My Devices page. Reordering devices Reordering devices 4. Click the device you want to move to select it, and then click Move Up or Move Down to reposition the device in the list. 5. Repeat as necessary to create the desired device order. 6. Click Save to apply your changes and return to the My Devices page, or click Reset to discard your changes and reset the device order. Resolve your device order and delay settings If you have more than one device eligible to receive an alert, and your delay settings are set to zero, you may receive more than one alert at once. For example, if you have an email device and a text phone device, then xMatters may send an email immediately, and then send a message to your text phone device even as you are receiving the email message. Test and validate your devices Whenever you add a new device, or make a change to an existing device, you should validate that the device is configured correctly. xMatters includes a testing and validation tool to make sure that your devices are configured properly and working as expected. Testing your devices in xMatters is a three-step process: Manage your devices | 17 xMatters on demand for message recipients 1. Send a test message to the device. 2. Confirm that the validation message was received on the target device. 3. Reply to the validation message using the device to update its validation status. The current validated status of your devices is indicated in the Valid column of the Devices table on your home page, and on your My Devices page. The following table lists and explains the symbols used to represent the status of each device. Device requires validating. A validation message has been sent to this device, and is pending a response. Device has been validated. Device has been invalidated because an attempt to contact it has failed. Device invalidation When xMatters detects that a device cannot be contacted, it invalidates and deactivates the device. If your device has been invalidated, correct the contact information and then validate and reactivate the device. xMatters supports device invalidation for certain email, voice, and SMS devices. Contact your Client Success Manager to learn which protocol providers support device invalidation or to turn off the device invalidation feature. To validate a device: 1. Sign in to xMatters. 2. Click your user name located in the top-right corner of the page, and then click My Devices. 3. In the Existing Devices section, locate the device that you want to validate, and click the icon in the Valid column. Clicking the icon sends a validation message to the device. l You can resend a validation message to devices that have already been validated or are pending validation. 4. Retrieve the test message from your device and follow the response instructions. l In the case of an email device, for example, you will receive a message containing a validation link. You can reply to the email as defined in the message, or just click the included validation link. 5. Confirm that your device has been validated. l Once the validation response has been received, the device status (the icon in the Valid column) is updated on your My Devices page. Manage your devices | 18 My Devices page Note that if you are unable to log in to the xMatters web user interface, you can still validate your device in one of the following ways: n Your xMatters supervisor can use the Mark as Valid button on the Devices for User page to validate a device they know is accurate and able to receive notifications. n The first time you respond to a communication plan message using a device, it is automatically updated to Valid. Respond to alerts How you respond to alerts from xMatters depends on the devices you have configured, and the time and location of the event that requires your attention. When xMatters notifies you, it may ask you to respond by acknowledging that you have received the notification, or it may require a more detailed response. How to prepare to receive notifications To ensure that you are able to receive notifications from xMatters On-Demand, do the following: n Add Caller ID for xMatters to your mobile phone (if you do not know the xMatters call-out phone number, contact your xMatters administrator). This will help prevent you from mistaking xMatters calls for nuisance or other unrecognized calls. n Add the xMatters notification email address to the contacts in your email client (if you do not know the xMatters notification email address, contact your xMatters administrator). This will help prevent xMatters notification emails being incorrectly routed to "Spam" or "Junk" folders. Note that if you have a separate spam filter set up for your email client, you should also configure it to allow mail from xMatters to appear in your Inbox. Note: The default security settings on many email and webmail clients (e.g., Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, etc.) hide graphics in email messages from unknown or 'untrusted' senders. However, you will typically be given the option to display hidden graphics by clicking a provided link or button (some clients also provide an option to add the sender to your 'safe senders' list). To view your notifications in the intended format, it is recommended that you select the option to display images in notifications. Respond to alerts | 19 xMatters on demand for message recipients Receive and respond to phone alerts The following steps occur when xMatters calls you with an alert: 1. xMatters dials your number and waits for a response. l l l If you answer, xMatters will greet you and prompt you to enter your password. If you do not answer the phone, xMatters will try dialing a set number of times. Then, depending on your user and group details, xMatters will attempt to contact you via another device, or attempt to contact the next user in your group or team. If an answering machine answers, xMatters detects it and will leave a message asking you to call in to the system. You can then call xMatters to retrieve the alert. 2. After xMatters reads your User ID, enter your phone password. l If your phone password was entered correctly, xMatters will read the alert to you. 3. If there are response choices, listen to them carefully, and then press the number that corresponds to your choice. l There will be an option to repeat all of the response choices in case you need to hear your xMatters options again. After you choose your response, xMatters will thank you and, if you have no further pending alerts, end the call. If there are more alerts waiting for you, xMatters will proceed to read them to you. Receive and respond to text and SMS alerts You can receive xMatters Alerts on text phones and pagers, and respond to the alerts if your device is capable. One-way pager If you have been notified via a one-way pager, you must call in to xMatters to respond. Text phone or two-way pager If you are notified via a two-way pager or text-enabled (SMS) phone, you will be given response options within the message itself. When replying to an alert with an SMS device, it is important to remember the following: n Your response should always be on a separate line from the remainder of the reply. n Depending on your xMatters deployment, the response may include additional information; do not alter or delete this information in any way. n Most SMS responses do not include support for additional annotations or notes. Keep your responses short, and limited to the options described in the notification. Example The following example shows how you could respond to an alert on a text phone. Note: Alerts may appear differently on your device, and the message for your Alert may have been formatted by your xMatters Administrator to include different options and display features. On a text phone, this menu shows that you have an outstanding alert: Respond to alerts | 20 Text phone with outstanding alert The following figure shows the message text of the alert: Sample alert on a text phone The sample message contains the Incident ID, a short description of the problem, and the date and time of the incident. If you choose to reply, the phone displays the response options. This example alert presents three response options, “Acknowledge”, “Own”, or “Ignore”: Sample text phone alert response options To respond to this alert, you would type "RES", followed by your response choice; for example: RES Acknowledge Respond to simple SMS messages If your xMatters deployment has simple SMS replies enabled, the response options are associated with a number (e.g., 1 Acknowledge, 2 - Reject, etc.). To respond to a simple SMS message, enter only the number of your response choice, and do not include its associated text. When you press Send, your phone communicates your response choice back to xMatters, where it will be associated with the event that prompted the alert. Receive and respond to email alerts When responding to an alert via email, the response options and instructions are included in the body of the message. For plain-text messages, you will be asked to reply to the email with a specific keyword in the subject line, followed by your response choice. HTML emails will include any configured response choices as links within the body of the message. Ensure that you follow the instructions outlined in the message text exactly as specified. About email formatting The email notifications you receive from xMatters are displayed in either HTML or plain-text format. HTML email can include rich content such as different fonts, colors, tables, hyperlinks, and so on. Plain-text email, as its name suggests, displays only basic alphanumeric characters, typically in a standard font. Respond to alerts | 21 xMatters on demand for message recipients Some devices and email clients cannot display HTML messages and will convert such messages to plain-text. In other cases, formatting is configurable on the device or email client itself (for example, in Microsoft Outlook). xMatters will display the message in HTML or plain-text based on the device or email client and its format settings. HTML email response example The following screenshot shows an HTML email as it is displayed in Microsoft Outlook: Email alert example in HTML To respond to an HTML email Alert, click one of the response links (in this case, Accept or Reject). Note that HTML emails can be highly customized to include more information about the event, and may provide several response links that enable you to directly control the event on the management system. For example, the following screenshots illustrate how an HTML email from an integrated management system might appear on a mobile phone equipped with an email browser: Email alert on a mobile device Note how the available responses allow the recipient to control the event flow, or even open the event on the originating management system. Plain-text email response example Depending on your email client and its settings, plain text email will be displayed in one of two ways: Respond to alerts | 22 n Some email clients (e.g., Microsoft Outlook) display text that is identical to an HTML email including clickable response links, but with other HTML elements such as color and graphics removed n 'Pure' plain-text email clients display an alternative plain-text message that requires the recipient to respond by typing a response in the subject line and sending the message back to xMatters. The following screenshot shows a plain-text email as it is displayed in Outlook: Plain-text email alert as displayed in Microsoft Outlook To respond to this style of plain-text alert, click one of the response links (in this case, Accept or Reject). The following screenshot shows a plain-text email with response instructions rather than response links: Replying to an email alert To respond to this style of plain-text alert, type the keyword “RESPONSE” in the subject line, followed by a single space, and then one of the options listed. For example, you might respond with "RESPONSE ACCEPT". Respond to alerts | 23 xMatters on demand for message recipients Note: It is important to include the entire message in the response. Without the message text, xMatters may not recognize to which event the response refers. Once the email reply reaches xMatters, your response will be associated with the original event that started the notification process. Respond with a comment You can include a comment when you respond to an email notification. Use comments to record additional information about your status on the Tracking tab of the events report. To respond to an email notification with a comment, reply to the email the same way you reply to a plain-text email notification and type the comment after the response choice. For example, to reply ACCEPT to a message with the comment "Servers are experiencing a DDOS attack", reply to the email message and replace the subject with "RESPONSE ACCEPT Servers are experiencing a DDOS attack". Note: You cannot include a comment if you respond to an event by clicking the response links within the body of an HTML email notification. Call in to retrieve alerts You can call in to xMatters to hear any alerts you may have missed, or to respond to alerts that you received on a oneway device. If you do not know the number to call, contact your supervisor or xMatters Administrator. Note that when you call in to retrieve alerts, or when you answer a call from xMatters, the system will prompt you to respond to all of your active alerts. In some cases, this may include alerts to which you have already responded, but that are still assigned to you. This is due to the response choices configured by your xMatters administrator, and the options they have configured in the system that dictate what action each response means for the underlying event. For example, if you answer a phone call from xMatters and respond to the notification with "Acknowledge", your administrator may have configured that response choice to mean that you are the sole person responsible, and to instruct the system not to notify anyone else about it, but not to close the original event. If you then call in to xMatters later to retrieve another voice notification for an unrelated event, you might be prompted to respond to both the new notification and the original notification again. You can respond to those alerts again, which will update your original response, and may affect the status of the event in the system. Note for Administrators The call-in behavior described above is not specific to a single event domain. For example, if you were targeted for notification based on a message from the Messaging Panel and then initiated another notification to create a recording, when xMatters calls you may be prompted to respond again to the first notification after you respond to the recording request. (By default, xMatters will play the newest notification first, but this behavior can be adjusted in the scripting.) To retrieve an alert by phone: 1. Dial the number for xMatters. 2. When prompted by xMatters, enter your User ID. l This is the same ID that appears in the xMatters web user interface, on your Change My xMatters Phone Login page. Respond to alerts | 24 Mary McBride’s Change My Phone Login page 3. When prompted by xMatters, enter your phone password. l xMatters will then read all of your pending and active alerts, and allow you to respond to them if there are response options. Respond to alerts | 25 26 | How to access other xMatters resources Now that you have begun to learn about xMatters On-Demand, you may want to explore other resources: Resource Additional Information xMatters Online Help Most pages in the xMatters interface include access to online help via the question mark icon and Help link. As you explore xMatters, click the help button for context-sensitive assistance and tips, or go to https://help.xmatters.com. xMatters online This is the main xMatters web site, providing detailed company and product information, as well as links to xMatters On-Demand and xMatters community. www.xmatters.com xMatters community support.xmatters.com xMatters client assistance International: +1 925.226.0300 (and press 2) US/CAN Toll Free: 877.XMATTRS EMEA: +44 (0) 20 3427 6333 Australia/APJ Support: +61-2-80385048 opt 2 xMatters provides a community for customers, partners and guests to find and share ideas, access important information and documents, proactively address support issues, and download products and updates. You can also view and contribute to FAQs and community forums, browse upcoming events, white papers, case studies and collateral, access new product release information, inquire about support issues and download new integrations. (Note that you must register to use the xMatters Community web site.) You can contact xMatters client assistance by email or phone for help with technical issues. Online: http://support.xmatters.com Sales and advisors 925.226.0300 Toll Free: 877.XMATTRS You can contact xMatters sales and advisors to learn about how to make your xMatters experience even more relevant. How to access other xMatters resources | 27 28 |
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